'Multiple factors at play': SC on J&K's statehood

This is a decision that has to be taken after taking into account several considerations. Pahalgam (attack) did not take place too long ago.

- Utkarsh Anand

The Supreme Court on Friday underlined the complexity of fixing a rigid timeline for the restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir, observing that such a decision involves several considerations, including the region's fragile security situation and the recent terror attack in Pahalgam.

A bench of Chief Justice of India Bhushan R Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran, hearing a bunch of applications seeking time-bound restoration of statehood to the erstwhile state, adjourned the matter for four weeks after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Union government, sought more time to respond.

“This is a decision that has to be taken after taking into account several considerations. Pahalgam did not take place too long ago,” the CJI observed during the brief but charged exchange in court.

Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, representing academic Zahoor Ahmad Bhat and social activist Khurshaid Ahmad Malik, pressed that the government had given a solemn undertaking before the five-judge Constitution bench in December 2023 that statehood would be restored after the conduct of elections. “We do not see any movement in deference to that assurance,” he said.

Assembly elections in the UT were held in October 2024.

Mehta responded that the undertaking would be respected, but the matter was not without complexities. “There are several concerns — some of which involve this side of the border and some on the other side of the border. There are wider concerns that have to be taken into account,” he said, in an apparent reference to cross-border terrorism and the security environment in the region.